Interfaith group in Malaysia always says the same

(https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2023/03/18/no-need-for-blanket-ban-on-church-temple-visit-says-interfaith-group/)

No need for blanket ban on church, temple visit, says interfaith group

The group says under the constitution, without any propagation involved, the act of visiting a non-Muslim house of worship was not an offence.

FMT Reporters 

18 March 2023

PETALING JAYA: An interfaith group has called on the government and Islamic authorities not to impose a blanket ban on Muslims from visiting non-Muslim places of worship.

Instead, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) suggested that authorities make it clear that there should not be any attempts to propagate other faiths to Muslims.

The council was responding to the Selangor government’s recent move in prohibiting Muslims from entering non-Muslim houses of worship.

Selangor religious affairs exco Zawawi Ahmad Mughni was reported to have said that while Selangor welcomed programmes organised by NGOs to foster tolerance, such activities should adhere to guidelines set by the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais).

He added that Jais will monitor and take action against those who violate this rule under Sections 5 and 6 of the Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment.

However, MCCBCHST said these programmes aim to foster an understanding of different cultures and involve zero propagation of religion.

It also said that the enactment cited by Zawawi was enacted under Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution which only prohibits the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.

The group said if there was no propagation of other faiths to Muslims, then there would be no offence committed.

“Therefore, the mere act of visiting a (non-Muslim) house of worship cannot be an offence,” it said in a statement.

Two days ago, former religious affairs minister Zulkifli Al-Bakri – who had visited churches, temples and gurdwaras in the past – called for guidelines on visits to houses of worship to　 foster greater harmony among Malaysians.

（End）

Pastor abducted by Malaysian police

Regarding this article, please refer to my previous posting dated 15 November 2017 (https://itunalily2.hatenablog.com/entry/20171115).  (Lily)

(https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/pastor-abducted-by-malaysian-police-still-missing-after-six-years/)

Pastor abducted by Malaysian police still missing after six years

By Diana Chandler, (Baptist Press, senior writer)

 13 February 2023 

 PETALING JAYA, Malaysia (BP) – Leavell College Dean Greg Wilton met Malaysian pastor Raymond Koh about a decade before police abducted Koh in an effort to quash his Christian ministry.

On the sixth anniversary of Koh’s Feb. 13, 2017, abduction, Wilton is among many praying and advocating for the pastor’s release.

“I highlight his abduction and disappearance every year on social media,” Wilton told Baptist Press. “It’s important that I never forget my friend. It’s also important that his family knows there are others out there who have not gotten over it. We shouldn’t be making heroes and celebrities in our faith, especially the kind that take our eyes off Jesus.

“However, there are rare individuals, of whom the world is not worthy, who do nothing to detract from Jesus and who do everything to bring Jesus all praise, glory and honor,” Wilton said. “Pastor Raymond is one of those rare individuals.”

Koh was driving along a highway in Petaling Jaya when three SUVs impeded his path, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reported, based on close-caption television security footage of the crime. Fifteen masked men pulled him away and stole his car in the 40-second scene, this version posted on YouTube by Voice of the Martyrs (VOM). He was 64 and hasn’t been seen or heard from since the abduction.

Koh ran a nonprofit ministry helping people living with HIV/AIDs, recovering addicts and single mothers and children. Islamic authorities once investigated him over allegations he was working to convert Muslims to Christianity, among other outreaches.

USCIRF, Voice of the Martyrs, Open Doors, International Christian Concern and the Jubilee Campaign are among groups that have advocated for Koh’s release.

VOM spokesperson Todd Nettleton said the pastor has been missing far too long, especially for Koh’s wife and children.

“For Susanna and the Koh family, it’s been six years, waking up every morning wondering what happened to Pastor Raymond, wondering where he is, how he is,” Nettleton said. “I, and many other Christians around the world, have been inspired by Susanna’s grace and faithfulness through these years. I pray God will continue to bless and sustain her and their family.

“And to the Malaysian government,” Nettleton said, “I join my voice with thousands of others calling for a full and transparent accounting of what happened to Pastor Raymond Koh and other victims of forced disappearance.”

Wilton, who planned to lead students in praying for Koh, encourages fellow Southern Baptists to pray for Koh.

“Southern Baptists should pray constantly for Pastor Raymond and for persecuted Christians around the world. The greatest thing a Southern Baptist can do is to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world,” Wilton said. “They are our brothers and sisters in Christ. To not think of them in this way is a clear violation of God’s expectation for his church to function as the family of God.”

Wilton first met Koh while in college and reconnected with him in 2013 when he moved to Southeast Asia.

“He loved Jesus. He loved and served anyone. He lived humbly. He believed wholeheartedly that Jesus is worthy,” Wilton said. “When I think of Pastor Raymond, I’m reminded of the many persecuted Christians around the world who don’t even have the chance to receive glory and recognition for themselves. Yet, even if they could, the Pastor Raymonds of this world wouldn’t dare do such a thing because they know all glory belongs to Christ.”

Sunni Muslims are the religious majority in Malaysia, but even they must adhere to strict, state-approved interpretation of Islam, USCIRF reported. In its 2023 Global Prayer Guide, VOM deems Malaysia one of 41 restricted countries where Christians face governmental and societal persecution. Open Doors lists Malaysia 43^rd on its 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places for Christians to live, citing Islamic oppression.

Koh is among 1,934 persons of various faiths USCIRF classifies as victims of freedom of religion or belief, including those still held, those released, those whose fate is unknown and seven who died in custody.

（End）

Time lag, time loss in Malaysia

（https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/09/01/in-sabah-islamist-activist-apologises-in-court-after-sued-over-facebook-rant-against-christians/25940　

In Sabah, Islamist activist apologises in court after sued over Facebook rant against Christians

Wan Asshima Kamaruddin (left) had published a 12-minute rant against Christians last year over the use of "Allah" word issue. — Picture by Ida Lim

By Julia Chan

Thursday, 01 Sep 2022 5:07 PM MYT

KOTA KINABALU, Sept 1 — An Islamist activist has apologised in the Sessions Court here for posting provocative rants against the Christian community on Facebook as part of the settlement reached today.

Wan Asshima Kamaruddin, 38, of the Islamic rehabilitation centre Pondok Hijrah Muslimah Malaysia submitted her apology to the court in front of Judge Dayang Ellyn Narisa Abang Ahmad after being sued by local lawyer Marcel Jude Joseph.

"I promise not to repeat my actions and I apologise to Marcel Jude Joseph and the Christian community of Malaysia.

"This incident has taught me to be more rational and respectful of other races in the country and I hope that the Christians in the country will accept me as a human being who had made a mistake," she told the court.

The session was recorded through video conferencing.

Under the settlement, Wan Asshima would pay a cost of RM500 in cost to Jude who would discontinue his suit.

Dayang Ellyn said that she was happy with the outcome of the case after both sides agreed to an amicable settlement entered by the defendant and the plaintiff.

"I applaud the approach of both the plaintiff (Jude) and the defendant (Asshima) in settling the matter," she said.

Jude had filed a suit against Wan Asshima on March 26 last year after she made a provocative statement against Christians over the video on her Facebook page under the name "Puteri Mujahidah Wan Asshima Kamaruddin.”

She had posted a long 12-minute rant on her page after it was reported that the government had filed an appeal against the High Court's decision to annul the ban on the use of the word "Allah” by non-Muslims.

Jude said that he was happy with her apology today

"I wish to thank her for her remorseful statement.

"With her apology and undertaking, I wish her all the best in her future and I also wish to thank the court on the part you have undertaken in the amicable settlement,” he said when contacted.

Several individuals in Sarawak had also filed a similar suit at the Kuching High Court on July 14 earlier this year to issue a permanent injunction against Asshima which among others was to stop inciting the public against Christians and people of other faiths.

A judgement was made in default as she did not show up for the case where the plaintiffs had sued for violating their rights under Article 13 of the Federal Constitution, for provocation, promotion of ill feelings and causing disharmony amongst Muslims and non-Muslims in a multiracial, multireligious nation.

On June 27, this year Wan Asshima also pleaded guilty to Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court judge Edwin Paramjothy for charges under Section 233(1) of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.

Wan Asshima was fined RM13,000, or to serve six months in jail if the amount is not paid. She was initially charged on May 25 and had claimed trial but she changed her plea.

（End）

■

Cilisos (https://cilisos.my/why-do-we-use-hati-and-not-jantung-for-emotions-in-bm/)

Why Does “hati” in BM mean liver, but also heart?

By Kyle Iman

08/03/2022

It’s a debate as old as our nation itself (possibly even older): does the BM word ‘hati’ mean ‘heart’, or ‘liver’?

Because even when we asked around the Cilisos office, the answers we got were mixed, with some saying ‘heart’, some saying ‘liver’, and one saying ‘well, no, it’s kinda both’.

But before you start thinking we’re pulling your liver strings, we decided to get to the heart of the matter, and try to find out why we use ‘hati’ instead of ‘jantung’ for emotions.

In ancient cultures, the liver was seen as the center of emotion

Interestingly, the concept of the liver being the center of human soul and emotion can be traced back to ancient Mesopotamia (circa 3000 BC.

In fact, there was a whole medical doctrine revolving around the idea of the liver as the center of human and animal emotion, called hepatocentrism. Such was the significance of the liver in those cultures, that it was seen as a mechanism for future-telling (divination). This belief influenced Greek Galenic physiology (which believed that blood was produced in the liver), and persisted in the Western world up until the 17th century when the lymphatic system was ‘discovered’.

However, it turns out that Asian cultures may have gotten it ‘right’ the first time: in Indian Ayurvedic principles, while the liver is seen as responsible for the emotions of anger, resentment, and hate, it’s the heart chakra (anahata chakra) that’s recognized as the ‘seat of emotional experience’.

A similar belief is held by the Chinese (xin/心), Tamil Indians (manase/மனசு), and Thais (jai/ใจ), with all of those words meaning ‘heart/mind’ (more on this later). Arabic culture also recognizes the heart in a similar way, which is why we have the BM word ‘kalbu‘ (from the word ‘qalb/قلب’).

But if other Asian cultures also take the heart approach, well, to heart, why then does the Malay culture diverge from this trend? Well, the answer isn’t so simple, because…

‘Hati’ can mean ‘heart’, ‘liver’, and ‘mind’

Remember earlier on when we said one of our staff members thought it was kinda both liver and heart? Well, he actually had the right idea, and came the closest to the following theory.

Now, we couldn’t actual find the exact historical origins of the word used in this way, but researchers Dr Imran Ho-Abdullah and Dr Norsimah Mat Awal of UKM provided what we felt was the best explanation: ‘hati’ is the technical term for ‘liver’, but means ‘heart/mind’ in colloquial speak or folk semantics. Therefore, it actually goes in line with the pattern of Asian languages, where the word for ‘heart’ is interchangeable with ‘mind’.

Which kinda makes sense, since we use hati for pretty much everything related to thought, emotion, perception, feelings, passion… it’s a loooong list of things, which is why equally loooong research papers have been written about it (like this one).

As for ‘jantung (the technical term for heart)’, apparently it’s a more recent addition to the Malay language, loaned from Javanese/Sundanese; according to researcher Revi Soekatno, the word wasn’t even contained in the 1983 edition of the Klinkert’s Malay Dictionary. In fact, H.C. Klinkert (1829-1913), who also translated the Bible into Malay, actually used the word ‘hati’ as a technical term for heart in his translation of the King James Bible:

“Maka pingsanlah hatinya dalam dadanya dan iapun menjadi seperti batu adanya (… that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone).” – Samuel 25:37, King James Bible, translated by Klinkert (1879)

The intricacies of Bahasa Malaysia are appreciated by linguists the world over

Despite it being a relatively new language in human linguistic history, it does feel cool to speak a language that’s exclusive to this part of the world. And even so, countless foreigners have researched it, most notably R.O. Winstedt, the Englishman who was so good at the language that he actually wrote a whole three-volume English-Malay dictionary.

But much more than debates on hearts and livers, Bahasa Malaysia represents the uniqueness of our culture, and stands as a piece of our identity no matter how far in the world we go. In any case, we definitely hope you’ll keep us close to your hati… heart, that is.

（End）

Mahathir Mohamad: Malaysian prime minister

（https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51610974?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bjb.press%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bjapanese%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D）

Mahathir Mohamad: Malaysian prime minister in shock resignation

24 February 2020

Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad has resigned in a surprise move that could unravel the ruling coalition.

The resignation of Mr Mahathir, 94, comes amid rumours that he may form a new coalition without his designated successor, Anwar Ibrahim.

The world's oldest elected leader returned to power in 2018.

In a surprise victory, he ousted then-prime minister Najib Razak, who is on trial charged with taking millions of dollars from a government wealth fund.

The Prime Minister's Office said the letter of resignation to the king was submitted at 13:00 local time (05:00 GMT). No other details were included in the statement.

It is not clear who will be the next prime minister.

No group of parties has sufficient MPs to form a government - so Malaysia's constitutional monarch will play an important role now, either inviting a political leader to form a new administration, or if that fails, calling a fresh general election.

Mr Mahathir has also resigned from Bersatu, the political party of which he was chairman.

Bersatu had been part of the governing Pakatan Harapan alliance, which he joined in 2018 together with Mr Anwar, and which won the 2018 vote, ending more than six decades of rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

On Sunday, Mr Anwar accused Mr Mahathir and his party of being "traitors", saying they had plans to form a new government, presumably without him.

Mahathir: The master manipulator

Jonathan Head, BBC News

Mahathir Mohammad has played the role of reluctant leader, dragged out of comfortable retirement by the needs of his country, unconvincingly. No-one is fooled.

Until now he has remained the master manipulator in Malaysian politics at the remarkable age of 94. So was he ever sincere about handing over power to Mr Anwar, as agreed, after two years?

He certainly doubted his one-time protégé's abilities to lead a heterogeneous coalition, and he was not alone in that view.

The country's ethnic Malay voters, whose support helped Mr Mahathir win the historic 2018 election, have been drifting back to Umno, the dominant party in the previous ruling coalition.

The idea of forming a new coalition and bringing Umno back in has gained momentum, although the extent to which Mr Mahathir is still pulling the strings is not clear. If that now happens, the hopes reformers had of reshaping Malaysia's notoriously corrupt and patronage-driven politics will be shattered.

The on-again off-again feud between Mr Anwar and Mr Mahathir is one that has dominated Malaysian politics for decades.

Mr Mahathir was prime minister from 1981 to 2003, and was part of the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

Mr Anwar was his deputy but the relationship soured when Mr Anwar was sacked in 1998 after a leadership dispute.

He was later jailed on corruption and sodomy charges, which were widely regarded as politically motivated.

But in 2018, Mr Mahathir shocked the country when he announced that he was teaming up with Mr Anwar and joining Pakatan Harapan. He said he was doing so to oust the government of Mr Najib, who had become embroiled in the 1MDB corruption scandal.

Mr Mahathir and Mr Anwar's alliance won - and Mr Mahathir agreed to eventually hand power over to Anwar.

But Mr Mahathir repeatedly refused to say when he would transfer power - stoking tensions within the opposition alliance.

（End）

(25 February 2020)

Jawi was used in schools

http://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/jawi-was-used-in-schools/51299/5

9 January 2020

The First Bishop of Kuala Lumpur, Rt Rev Dominic Vendargon, laid the Foundation stone for the newly built Catholic High School building in Petaling Jaya, on April 13, 1958.

KUALA LUMPUR: The First Bishop of Kuala Lumpur, Rt Rev Dominic Vendargon, laid the Foundation stone for the newly built Catholic High School building in Petaling Jaya, on April 13, 1958. The linguistic scripts used on the commemorative stone were in Jawi (not Rumi), English and Chinese. There are pieces of evidence that some of the early Bible translations were written in Jawi. The Father of Malay Literature Sir Munshi Abdullah translated the Gospel of Matthew in Jawi. This text is kept safely in the British Museum in London.

It was only in 1966 that the then-Education Minister, Tan Sri Mohamed Khir Johari abolished the teaching of Jawi script as a com pulsory subject in schools, which resulted in a decline of its usage.

In July 2019, the Education Ministry announced that Jawi would be taught in all schools nationwide, including Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT).

This decision was to include the khat — the art of Jawi calligraphic writing — to the year 4 Bahasa Melayu syllabus.  

Some members of the public strongly opposed the decision due to fears of Islamisation. Some people have misunderstood the use of Jawi and khat in schools. Jawi is an old script that has been used in the writing of Bahasa Melayu for years and with the com ing of the Western colonisers Bahasa Melayu was also adapted to the Latin alphabet a.k.a Rumi. Khat is just the calligraphical art of writing Jawi. Historically, Jawi came from the influence of early Arabic traders who travelled to this region sometime around the 13th century.

They translated the Arabic literary works into the Malay language using Jawi.

In that sense, the Arabic influence of Jawi on the Malay language is no different from that of the introduction of Rumi (the Roman alphabet) as the written script for Bahasa Melayu by Portuguese explorers in the 1500s.

The teaching of Jawi and khat in schools are about our nation’s palaeographic history! – Agencies

(End)

The Kurds troubled way

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/12/the-kurds-troubled-way/

The Kurds troubled way

A sorry history of betrayal and treachery. And that’s just amongst themselves

Ida Lichter

21 December 2019

Pictures of Kurdish women fighters alongside men surprised many in the West and the October withdrawal of American forces from northern Syria cast a spotlight on Kurdish self-determination. But how realistic is a state of Kurdistan, an egalitarian one, at that?

Kurdish majority areas include tracts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Of a total 30 million (mainly Sunni) Kurds in the Middle East, about half live in Turkey.  Over the centuries, ‘Kurdistan’ consisted of autonomous and semi-autonomous emirates, the people united in language and culture. The Kurds have suffered second-class status, Arabisation, exploitation and betrayal, often exacerbated by tribalism and internecine conflict. Their complex story weaves a knotty carpet of shifting alliances, rivalry and intrigue.

Following World War I, a unified Kurdistan was endorsed in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres but abandoned three years later in the Treaty of Lausanne, which granted Turkey borders that incorporated Kurdish-populated regions. An Iranian Kurdish republic in Mahabad lasted one year during 1946 but generally, Iranian Kurds have been an oppressed minority. In particular, the Islamic Republic has persecuted Iranian Kurds and pitted them against their Iraqi brethren.

Saddam Hussein supported a rebellion of Iranian Kurds to leverage his war effort during the Iran-Iraq War (1980 – 1988) but used chemical weapons against Iraqi Kurds in the genocidal Anfal campaign. During the first Gulf War of 1991, Iraqi Kurds responded to the call of US President George H. W. Bush urging a revolt against Saddam. Television images of fleeing Kurds later prompted coalition forces led by the US and UK to impose a no-fly zone over much of northern Iraq, effectively establishing an autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. Following elections, a liberal unity government was formed in the region, with a power-sharing arrangement between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader, Masoud Barzani, and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani. Both rulers, who were also leaders of major Kurdish tribes, eventually developed a sultanistic system, characterised by nepotism and cronyism.

KDP and PUK feuding culminated in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War (1994 – 1997) in which Turkey and Iran exploited the two factions for their own objectives.Intra-Kurdish enmity resurged in 2017 when Barzani’s KDP pushed forward an independence referendum tantamount to secession. Fearing Iraq’s fracture, the US opposed the referendum. Baghdad split the Kurdish groups through a separate agreement with the PUK, enabling central government forces and Shiite militias to readily retake the oil-rich region of Kirkuk, indispensable for the financial sustainability of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In Syria, Hafiz al-Assad utilised Kurdish nationalist groups to pressure rivals Iraq and Turkey. Seeking to undermine Iraq, Hafiz supported the KDP and PUK; to subvert Turkey, he assisted the Marxist-oriented Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the EU and US. PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan had conducted an insurgency in Turkey from his base in Syria. About 40,000 people died before an agreement between Syria and Turkey led the latter to capture Ocalan in 1999. From prison, Ocalan renounced the PKK’s Marxist doctrine; developing his ‘Democratic Confederalism’, inspired by American libertarian socialist Murray Bookchin. Ocalan’s order included women’s rights and citizen assemblies from grassroots to national levels.

During the Syrian civil war that followed the Arab Spring, Syrian government troops from the north were deployed south in 2012. The ensuing vacuum facilitated the rise of Rojava (Western Kurdistan), a self-proclaimed autonomous region in northeast Syria. This latest iteration of an independent Kurdish territory of 3.5 to 5 million people in three amalgamated enclaves included Turkmen, Christians and Yazidis. By 2014, Rojava had a constitution based on Ocalan’s doctrines.

Rojava’s women’s organisations achieved important reforms, facilitated by renouncing religious fundamentalism. Honour killings, violence against women, and gender discrimination became punishable crimes and child marriage, forced marriage, FGM and polygamy abolished. Sharia courts were dismantled, civil marriage contracts issued, and gender equality in court testimony and inheritance introduced. From its inception, Rojava had battled with jihadi groups. Finally, a US-led coalition against Islamic State intervened in 2014 with airpower, weapons and training for the Kurdish-led militias of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and their women’s division, the YPJ. When the US entered their military partnership with the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), they chose to disregard YPG ties to the terrorist PKK.

By March 2019, IS had been driven out, and in mid-October, US troops began withdrawing from northeast Syria, making way for a Turkish military offensive. Syrian Kurds accused the Americans of betrayal and fearing a massacre were forced to cut a deal with Bashar al-Assad, even though his regime was bent on reconquering northern Syria.

Turkey’s incursion resulted in civilian deaths on both sides of the border and the displacement of more than 300,000 people. From Erdogan’s perspective, creating a ‘safe zone’ on the Syrian side would strengthen his domestic popularity, and distance both the YPG and Rojava’s dangerous model of secular autonomy that could inspire Turkish Kurds.

Major powers have scrambled to exploit the turbulent Syrian chequerboard, forging new geo-strategic realities in the Kurdish region. Iran continues a policy of ethnic cleansing, replacing Sunni Syrian refugees with a Shiite population. Turkey aims to forcibly resettle millions of refugees in the ‘safe zone’, and has threatened to flood Europe with refugees if the EU labels Operation Peace Spring an ‘invasion’. The US has re-entered the field to resume operations against remnants of IS and safeguard Syria’s Deir Ezzor oil fields, perhaps also foiling any Russian or Iranian schemes to fund proxies and mercenaries with oil revenue.

Although autonomous Kurdish regions such as Rojava and Iraqi Kurdistan have emerged, a coalesced Kurdistan looks remote.

Kurdish leadership is deeply divided by rivalry and treachery, and the four countries with major Kurdish regions are unlikely to relinquish required territory. The US would not endorse such upheaval, let alone back a socialist entity. And support for a new nation-state might seem obsolete in a postmodern West where borders and sovereignty are considered increasingly irrelevant.

Ida Lichter is the author of Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression

（End）